A

s a public policy major, 
I’m well aware of all the 
research, thought and 

work that goes into creating 
policy. Good policy 
isn’t the result of 
exaggerated claims 
made on campaign 
trails 
to 
rile 
up 

crowds. 
Rather, 

it’s the outcome of 
experts and analysts 
examining a problem 
and coming up with 
creative 
responses 

based on the analysis 
of hard data. There is 
a disconnect between the kind 
of policy that gathers cheers in 
stadiums and the kind of policy 
that actually works well — and 
this disconnect seems to be 
expanding in the age of Trump. 

This dynamic has negative 

implications 
for 
successful 

implementation of good policy, 
which are compounded when 
legislators and presidents shift 
their focus from doing what 
is the best policy for their 
constituents to overzealously 
trimming 
budgets. 
Being 

frugal and conscientious with 
taxpayer money is essential, of 
course. But cutting programs 
that have proven themselves 
successful and that improve 
the lives of citizens should 
withstand budget cuts, even 
if 
they 
don’t 
get 
crowds 

cheering or don’t attract a lot 
of attention. 

On the national level, budget 

cuts to beloved programs often 
draw outrage, which can help 
insulate the programs from 
losing their funding or can 
attract outside donors. This 
can be seen in the case of 
Meals on Wheels, a program 
that provides healthy meals to 
senior citizens while checking 
in on their well-being, which 
was slated to lose funding 
on Trump’s budget proposal. 
This 
proposed 
cut 
drew 

national media attention and 
was bad press for the Trump 
administration. If Congress 
chooses to carry on with the 
decrease in funding for Meals 
on Wheels, it will likely face 

continued 
public 
backlash. 

Either 
way, 
the 
program 

saw a surge in donations 
and 
volunteers 
after 
the 

proposed cuts were 
announced, 
so 
it 

probably 
won’t 

suffer too much as a 
consequence. 

The same can’t 

be said for local 
programs 
and 

policy. 
There 
is 

less attention paid 
to 
state 
budget 

proposals, 
and 

there 
is 
less 

outrage 
when 
successful 

programs get cut. There are 
likely many reasons for this, 
such as the decline in local 
news reporting. 

A prime example of this 

lack of local interest is “10 
Cents a Meal for School Kids 
and Farms,” a pilot program 
that “provid(es) schools with 
match incentive funding up to 
10 cents per meal to purchase 
and 
serve 
Michigan-grown 

produce to an estimated 48,000 
students in 16 grant-winning 
school districts.” The pilot 
program was implemented in 
September 2016, and “10 Cents 
a Meal” has already proven 
a 
worthwhile 
investment. 

Economically, it has increased 
business for local farmers, 
distributors 
and 
producers. 

Nutritionally, it has exposed 
school children to a wide 
variety of locally produced 
vegetables and improved their 
access to healthy food. 

Many 
studies 
have 

demonstrated the importance 
of 
childhood 
nutrition. 

Proper nutrition is necessary 
for 
fighting 
infections. 

Undernutrition 
can 
result 

in 
decreased 
cognitive 

functioning 
and 
activity 

levels, among other things. A 
healthy diet can offset health 
issues 
such 
as 
childhood 

obesity. Healthy eating habits 
are particularly critical in 
a 
school 
setting 
because, 

as the Centers for Disease 
Control 
and 
Prevention 

points out, “Schools are in a 
unique position to provide 
students with opportunities 
to learn about and practice 
healthy 
eating 
behaviors.” 

The case for high-quality, 
nutritional food in schools 
is hard to ignore. Delivering 
this healthy diet to kids 
in a sustainable way that 
promotes the local economy? 
That’s just good policy. 

“10 
Cents 
a 
Meal,” 

though, 
didn’t 
appear 
on 

Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget 
recommendation for the 2018 
fiscal year. It remains to 
be seen if the program will 
make it into the final budget, 
which will be determined by 
the House and Senate. This 
is a program that is good for 
Michigan, and cutting it just 
wouldn’t make sense. 

National 
outrage 
over 

unnecessary 
budget 
cuts 

had an impact. Why can’t we 
take that anger to the state 
level? I implore everyone to 
get in touch with their state 
representatives 
and 
make 

it clear that programs like 
“10 Cents a Meal” shouldn’t 
be on the chopping block. 
Connecting farms to schools 
might not be the kind of policy 
that gets people riled up to 
attend rallies and vote, but 
it’s the kind of policy that 
makes positive changes in 
communities. 
That 
should 

count for something. 

Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Friday, April 14, 2017

REBECCA LERNER

Managing Editor

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890.

EMMA KINERY

Editor in Chief

ANNA POLUMBO-LEVY 

and REBECCA TARNOPOL 

Editorial Page Editors

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily’s Editorial Board. 

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

MARY KATE WINN | COLUMN

Mary Kate Winn can be reached at 

winnm@umich.edu.

ERIN WAKELAND | CONTACT ERIN AT ERINRAY@UMICH.EDU

E

very 
year, 
students 

leave their homes to 
attend 
college 
with 

the hope of achieving their 
personal and academic goals. 
While 
acknowledging 
that 

students have diverse goals, 
many individuals share the 
aim of obtaining a college 
degree and participating in 
their campus communities in 
various capacities (e.g., Greek 
life, service learning, etc.). 
Through these involvements, 
students can learn more about 
their 
interests 
and 
other 

communities while becoming 
engaged 
citizens. 
Though 

students can engage in many 
opportunities, 
one 
question 

remains: “What is the role of a 
higher education institution?” 

 Recently in one of my 

classes we read and discussed 
“Citizen Formation Is Not 
Our Job” by Stanley Fish. 
Fish states that “promoting 
virtuous citizenship is no 
doubt a worthy goal, but it is 
not an academic goal, because 
... it is a political goal.” I am 
a current graduate student 
in the Center for the Study 
of Higher and Postsecondary 
Education and a firm believer 
in 
providing 
students 

opportunities to participate in 
activities that will challenge 
their ideas and skills. This 
article failed to acknowledge 
that civic engagement and 
service 
learning 
provide 

students 
opportunities 
to 

learn more about communities 
and other individuals. 

 Citizen formation is the role 

of higher education, because 

it equips students with the 
tools they need to engage in 
communities 
and 
become 

informed citizens. Institutions 
should provide students service 
learning 
opportunities 
to 

reflect on their role and the 
impact they want to have even 
after they leave the institution. 

Fish 
states 
that 

“volunteerism is in general 
a good thing, it is not an 
academic thing and those who 
take it up should not receive 
academic credit for doing so.” 
Volunteerism 
is 
beneficial 

to both the student and the 
community, but the point is 
not whether a student should 
or should not receive academic 
credit 
for 
volunteering. 

Instead, we should ask what 
the students learned through 
their engagement in the service 
learning opportunities.

Though 
higher 
education 

provides academic coursework 
that will give students the skills 
they need to secure a job, the 
overall goal of higher education 
should 
be 
to 
ensure 
that 

students will become committed 
citizens. Service learning allows 
students to learn about the 
social issues that affect their 
involvement 
in 
communities 

beyond graduation. 

As an undergraduate student, 

I participated in the Alternative 
Break 
programs. 
This 

experience challenged me to 
reflect on lessons learned in the 
classroom, to collaborate with 
individuals whom I otherwise 
would 
have 
never 
engaged 

with and to learn about the 
challenges communities face. 

Participating in service learning 
allowed me think about how 
my work affects communities 
around me and how I can make 
an impact. 

One argument Fish proposes 

is that service learning has 
a 
political 
undertone 
that 

typically 
leans 
toward 
a 

more liberal point of view. I 
would challenge that belief 
and say that service learning 
can be done without political 
agendas. 
Students 
can 

participate in various service 
learning opportunities, such as 
literacy or tutoring programs, 
reading to hospital patients 
and coaching a youth sports 
team, just to name a few. If 
the concern is truly that there 
is a political agenda behind 
service learning, students can 
decide whether or not to not 
engage in these projects or 
find one that aligns more with 
their interests. 

As we try to define what the 

role of higher education is, we 
need to remember that these 
institutions benefit both students 
and 
society. 
By 
providing 

students with service learning 
opportunities, 
students 
are 

challenged to learn inside and 
outside the classroom. If the role 
of a higher education institution 
is to prepare students for the 
future, challenging students to 
get involved in service learning 
opportunities allows them to 
increase their civic engagement 
and make a lasting impact in 
their community. 

What is the role of a higher education insitution?

Cynthia Sanchez is a Rackham 

student.

Carolyn Ayaub
Megan Burns

Samantha Goldstein

Caitlin Heenan
Jeremy Kaplan

Sarah Khan

Anurima Kumar

Ibrahim Ijaz
Max Lubell

Alexis Megdanoff
Madeline Nowicki
Anna Polumbo-Levy 

Jason Rowland

Ali Safawi

Sarah Salman
Kevin Sweitzer

Rebecca Tarnopol

Stephanie Trierweiler

MARY KATE 

WINN

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R

ecently, I had a rather 
polarizing 
incident 

at 
the 
U.S.-Canada 

border. During a visit to 
Detroit, my friend 
and 
I 
spotted 

the 
sign 
pointing 

out 
the 
Detroit-

Windsor 
tunnel 

and 
spontaneously 

decided to go to 
Canada, 
because 

why 
not? 
As 
we 

drove 
under 
the 

Detroit 
River, 

adrenaline 
from 

the prospect of our 
adventure 
rushed 
through 

our veins, but our excitement 
came to a quick halt when 
a Canadian border services 
agent asked us the purpose of 
our spontaneous trip. 

Lost for words and without 

a plan, we replied, “Just 
because,” and the greatest 
look of incredulity, distrust 
and judgment crossed her 
face. Now, I realize that it is 
a border control officer’s job 
to treat two teenagers in a 
rental car and no plans with 
suspicion. 
But, 
the 
scorn 

with 
which 
she 
repeated, 

“You’re going to Canada just 
because?” felt uncomfortably 
reminiscent of the countless 
times I’ve been asked about 
my future career plans by 
adults, only to be met with 
disappointment when I cannot 
provide a concrete answer. 
The disbelief in her voice 
made me feel small.

I came to college with 

romantic notions of it being 
a place to “find myself,” but 
it didn’t take long to realize 
there wasn’t as much freedom 
to explore my interests as I 
initially thought. Almost from 
the moment I first stepped on 
campus, I was asked left and 
right about what my major was. 
It seemed to be the second most 
important piece of information 
about me behind my name. 
Though most students do not 
declare 
their 
majors 
until 

the end of their sophomore 
year, there is an unbelievable 
pressure on freshmen to have 
their next four years planned 
out much, much earlier.

While at the beginning of 

the year it was still relatively 
common to hear people were 

undecided about the future, 
now the undeclared are rare 
enigmas. 
Just 
last 
week, 

I 
attended 
an 
orientation 

for 
my 
summer 

study abroad trip 
through the College 
of 
Engineering, 

and of the 30-odd 
freshmen who were 
in 
attendance, 
it 

seemed as though 
all of them, save 
one, 
knew 
what 

their majors were.

As an engineer, I 

feel that there is a 

necessity to decide early on. 
The large number of credits 
required does not provide a lot 
of wiggle room to explore other 
interests while graduating on 
time. Even coming in with a 
decent number of AP credits, I 
was dismayed to learn from my 
adviser that I may need to take 

an extra semester to complete 
both my major in biomedical 
engineering and my minor in 
creative writing. This was a 
major point of contention for my 
parents, who immediately urged 
I drop the minor. “What are 
you going to do with a creative 
writing minor anyway?”

Truth be told, probably 

nothing. But my minor is 
the most “exploration” of a 
subject matter near and dear 
to my heart that I can muster. 
Isn’t that the point of college 
— to learn and take classes 
that interest and challenge 
you? 
Unfortunately, 
these 

days, college seems more like 

a stepping stone to greater 
things, an obstacle that must 
be crossed in order to secure a 
well-paying job.

I’ve been cautioned against 

majoring 
in 
biomedical 

engineering more times than 
I 
can 
count. 
Apparently, 

the job prospects with just 
an 
undergraduate 
degree 

in 
biomedical 
engineering 

are 
poor 
in 
comparison 

to job prospects with an 
undergraduate degree in other 
engineering majors, such as 
mechanical 
engineering 
or 

electrical engineering. While 
it’s important to look out for 
your future, it doesn’t seem 
right to major in something 
you’re not completely devoted 
to and take classes that you’re 
not really interested in for 
four years with the hopes that 
you’ll be “employable” at the 
end of it.

“Undecided” 
shouldn’t 

equate 
to 
“indecisive,” 

and it surely is no label to 
shame. Freshmen should be 
encouraged to take classes 
that 
sound 
interesting 
to 

them and be able to explore 
their options instead of being 
pressured to decide on the rest 
of their life at the age of 18.

There are several schools 

around the country, including 
Harvard and Yale, that have 
“shopping 
periods” 
at 
the 

beginning of the semester, so 
students can “shop” different 
classes to see if they are 
interested. The University of 
Michigan could really benefit 
from something similar, so the 
focus is on the course content 
and the learning instead of 
simply fulfilling a requirement 
for future endeavors.

There is merit to concrete 

plans, 
but 
college 
seems 

like a wasted opportunity 
if all four years are spent 
fulfilling some “formula” for 
future employment. We are 
so fortunate to attend such 
a prestigious, well-endowed 
university, and the only way 
to fully utilize all it has to 
offer is to occasionally toss 
the map into the backseat and 
take a spontaneous trip off the 
beaten path.

Tossing out the map

ASHLEY ZHANG | COLUMN

ASHLEY 
ZHANG

Ashley Zhang can be reached at 

ashleyzh@umich.edu.

Delivering this 

healthy diet 
to kids in a 

sustainable way 
that promotes the 

local economy? 
That’s just good 

policy. 

CYNTHIA SANCHEZ | OP-ED

State policies keep food on the table

College seems 
like a wasted 
opportunity if 

all four years are 
spent fulfilling 
some “formula” 

for future 

employment.

